As part of a series of roster moves, the Mariners announced that they’ve placed right-hander Felix Hernandez on the 10-day injured list with a strained pitching shoulder and selected the contract of righty Parker Markel from Triple-A Tacoma. The team has also recalled righty Dan Altavilla from Tacoma and optioned outfielder Braden Bishop.
The severity of Hernandez’s strain is unknown, but it’s the latest sign of deteriorating durability for the longtime workhorse, once a perennial 200-inning ace who hasn’t approached that mark since 2015. Hernandez devolved into a back-end starter the next season and hasn’t rebounded yet. After recording a career-worst 5.55 ERA/5.18 FIP in 2018, he’s at 6.52 and 5.30 in those categories through 38 2/3 innings this year – which could prove to be his last with the Mariners.
Hernandez’s injury created an opening for Markel, a 28-year-old who’s finally in position to make his major league debut eight years after the Rays selected him in the 39th round of the 2010 draft. Markel stuck with the Tampa Bay organization through 2016 and then signed with the Lotte Giants of the Korea Baseball Organization entering the 2017 campaign, though he asked the club to terminate his contract before he ever pitched for them.
Markel returned to action stateside last year at the Double-A level, where he pitched for independent Sioux City, before signing with the Mariners in the fall. He got off to a dominant start this season across the minors’ top two levels, combining for 35 strikeouts against seven walks and giving up just one earned run in 17 1/3 innings, to earn a big league promotion.
Literally just read on Rotographs to keep an eye on Parker Markel as potential closer if he ever gets the call. Anything is better than Swarzak.
Amen to that.
Lol doesn’t even exist in any of my leagues.
So I take it LeBlanc will slot into Hernandez’s place and Swanson will stay in his spot. I’m excited to see Markel pitch at the big league level.
Dodgers should sign him to help their crap pen. He has experience and can lengthen the pen for sods like Baez et al. and fill in when Jansen tanks.
No ones a free agent as a result of this.
Funny how getting shelled is now an injury worthy of an IL trip.
17 earned runs in his last three starts will do that. Counting on this turning into a 60 day IL stint and the end of his career as a Mariner or professional baseball player.
Yesterday was painful to watch him pitch.Didn’t take long to blow four run lead.
The king needs to retire he is a shell of his former self and is just embarrassing himself
$27.8 MM glosses over a lot of self embarrassment..
Yeah its what happens when you throw 190+ IP every year for 11 straight years.
Exactly
I don’t think he’s worthy of the king anymore. Right now, he’s peasant Felix
There seems to be a lot of players ending up on this new injured list so far this season. Is anybody checking up on these “injuries” or is this just a free for all?
What do you mean by “checking up on”?
Trying saying “Parker Markel” over and over and not laughing its impossible lol
Release King Felix now!!!
Just release him. The M’s have to eat the money. Better to have someone else at this point.
This is the classy way… I’d image he’ll be out for the season. Or at least most of it. Then have a thank you Felix day and see ya. 27mil off the books and lets go win next season.
It is too bad Felix couldn’t replicate the couple of starts he was decent in. All his pitches worked and he was pretty sharp. I hope they can come to an agreement for Felix to retire and keep the money or keep him on the IL ( I hate that name will take a bit to get used to.) The Mariners owe him for sticking with the team through all the crappy years. Go out in style Felix but not back on the mound.
Watching the Ms Jay Bruce is slow compared to the rest of the OF. Lol. They need to stop this game 11-2 top of 9 Raining the whole game warning track is a mess and the mound is 2″ taller with kitty litter. Not sure why it wasn’t stopped in the 7th. No reason to risk injury in a blowout.
I know that Mariner fans are ready to see Felix retire his jersey, and it really makes since. For those fans that are just complaining about the guy, maybe you can squeeze in just a modicum of appreciation for what he did for the franchize. He has been the best pitcher to wear a Mariners logo. The Mariners have gotten all his best years. He didnt sign a bigger contract with someone else looking for the most money. Maybe your attitude toward the guy should be more like: “Man, what a great pitcher he was. Thankyou for sticking with the Mariners. Good luck in whatever pursuits you take up.”
This isnt just for the Mariners fans either. Im a Braves fan and one day there will be Braves fans saying the same garbage about Freddy Freemen and not say a thing about how devoted he was to the team his entire career.
I feel exactly the same and if it didn’t get through sorry. I thought the let him retire and keep the money was fairly obvious.
I was in the stands when they announced the new contract. My brothers and I thought he was crazy. Why not sign with a contender? The smart fan would not blame him. They have put trash on the field for most of his career. Go someplace with a chance to win a WS. Just not the Yankees.
I also am not sure if he was the best pitcher to wear oit uni. Randy Johnson was pretty good but his best years were probably not here. They were pretty good though. Felix is one of the players that was loyal to us and ownership failed him along with Ichiro. Nintendo ran it to make money and a WS would be a nice extra.
Felix also would be a pretty big candidate for the HOF on a better team. Now he has a
distant chance. I know fans might disagree but I think he needed some post season in his resume. The voters are getting better and might look at his stats and ignore no post season. Felix was great and I was hoping the new style would work for him it did a couple times when his stuff didn’t all work though he was hammered. His fastball and change up were almost the same speed. The movement that caused hitters so much trouble just sat on a tee for the batters. Hate to see such a great player fade away but will always be a favorite.